Crossing gate



y 5- J. H. STALIYEYV zmmsm CROSSING GATE Iv Filed Nov. 29, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 1 I0 Inventor 8 Joseph H Staley July 9, 1935. Y J. H. STALEY 2,007,481

CROSSING GATE Filed Nov. 29, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 v /l/IIIII/II/ '1' l 3 J I Q 59 i 44 88 o O c: 53 Q 5 l3 a:

lnven tor Jose 0h H Stale-y Attorneys,

CROS S ING GATE Filed Nov. 29, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 3 T ms 13 E L o g 2* 5 2 'Q' k a m I m N5 m 8 N 5 o g y w I W m MlAA i Vvv L l L M k I S ig' {-1 [nvenimj I v Jo se bh H. Malay Attqrnegs Patented July 9, 1 935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i 2,007,481 7 f v CROSSING GATE; I Joseph H. Staley, Columbus. Ind. i Applica'tionNoveinheraalii32-serialN11.(i4i4 839 I 3 cl ims; (cram This. inventionrelates to the art of traflic crossing gatesand particularly to a, type, ofgate which maysw'ing downwardly to a-horizontal position to guard a crossingand. which, will be 2 .5 then normally maintained across a lane oftrafific but which may be yieldingly swung horizontally to prevent breakageflof the gatevshould asvehiole strike the lowered gate. Referenceyis made to Patent No. 1,985,958 granted to 1, 1935. v i In this type of gate considerable difficulty has been had in providing an actuating mechanism which couldvbe mounted within the gate standard and connected with the. gate itself withouta complicated mechanism being required.fiA pri-s mary object of my invention is to provide a structure easily manufactured and assembled. and which will be reliable Lmderall operating conditions. Another object of the invention is to provide means preventing the raising of the gate while the gate is in some such position other than across the lane of traffic whereby the gate could not be raised to interfere with wires or other elements which may be present at the side and above the gate.

A further object of the invention is to pros vide means for holding the lowered gate.in its normal position across the lane of traffic and permit it to he swung therefrom only upon the application of a force exceeding that normally returning the gate. l l

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following description of the invention and reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary central vertical elevatinn -through a structure embodying my invention; 1 g r p Fig. 2, a horizontal transverse section on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

i Fig. 3, a central vertical elevation at right angles to that shownin Fig. 1;

Fig. 4,- a fragmentary top, plan view of the structure; i Y x A Fig. 5, a central vertical section, through the operating cylinder;

Fig. 6, a detail in vertical .sectionof the a latching means;

Fig. 7, a side elevation. of the motor switch on a slightly'enlarged scale; v

Fig. 8, a side elevation of the control mechanism as viewed from the side opposite to Fig. 1;. Fig. 9, a wiring diagram, and 1 Fig. 10, a side elevation of a pair. of gates shown in a lowered position guarding'a crossing.

i Like. charact rs oiw reference indicate like parts throu hout the several, views.

I ior ia standard; to have abase It, a main housin a head. mounting ring l2; a head is,

anda head cap. 14. The housing ll is a hollow 1 aro nd. against the gasket and securing it in place by a can screw: I 3 passed through the door into the flange; at the lower side. This. door it is providedwith openings l9 and 29. toward the top and bott m respectively over which hoods project and behind which are mounted screens sothat a cir- Qui t-ion of air may be had between. the inside and outside 1 of the. housing without the entrance therewithin of. foreign matter. i v The. hfifid mql nting ring, 2 is a cylindrical secti nhaving: the same outside diameter'or that of the cylindrical nortion of thebody or housing 5 l and is made in a separate piece solely to facilitate ma hining. of its upper end so as to receive thereona plurality or ball bearings 2!. spaced therearound in an annular groove. .The mounting rin l'ZriS secured to the housing I! by telescopingit ovar an upturned flange and passing cap screws through ears: turning inwardly respectively fr mthe two members.

The ring-plus provided with an arm 22 extend+ ins from one Side thereof to the center, the outer end: of: the arm being: bored through vertically and cen rally of the ring toslidably receive a pin 234th? thmushg This. arm 22. is provided with an opemlighearthe Wall of the ring l2 into which is inserteda pulley wheel 24 and a pin 25 is entered through a. bore provided inthe ring W. from the. outside to pass revolvably through the wheel so assto provide an axle therefor on whichithe wheel may turn. The pin 25 is securely held in place by means of a set screw passed throushitho-iarm to: bear against the pin from the nsideiof the ring l2. .7 p

'fl'he lilendi 3 is a Cylindrical member having its under-sidexf rmed-with an annular groove to receivepthei upper sides: of the balls 21 therein and furth r iormedto. have a downturned flange 26 threadedly receive the upper end of the pin 23 axially of the head and a lock nut is provided on the upper end of the pin 23 to prevent accidental displacement of the pin from the head arm. The lower end of the pin 23 screwthreadedly passes through the transverse bar of a downturned yoke 28 so as to have the bar of the yoke in close proximity to the under side of the arm 22 and a lock nut 29 is provided on the end of the pin 23 which projects below the yoke bar so that the bar 28 serves as a stop to prevent the pin 23 from being withdrawn upwardly through the arm 22. Thus the head I3 is retained in place on the mounting ring I2 to permit the head to revolve around over the ring I2 but preventing its being tipped over or being lifted upwardly therefrom.

On the top side of the arm 22 is mounted a pulley wheel 38 to revolve about avertically disposed axis and a cable 3| having its upper end secured to the arm 21, here shown as on the side of a web reenforcing the arm, is carried around under the arm 21, around the pulley 30 and over and down around the'pulley 24 to be carried downwardly through the ring I2 and into the housing II to have its lower end pulled downwardly by spring tension, the cable being here shown as attached to an equalizing bar 32 which is engaged with the upperends of springs 33, here shown as two in number, the lower ends of which springs are attached toa bar 34 which is in turn secured to a side of the housing II. By means of these springs 33, the cable 3| is pulled tending to revolve the head I3 around horizontally over the mounting ring I2. A stop post 35, Fig. 6, is secured to the arm 21 to extend downwardly therefrom to be in the path of the arm 22 whereby the post 35 will strike the arm 22 and prevent further rotation of the head I3 in that direction. Adjacent the place of contact of the post 35 with the arm 22 is mounted a bracket 36 which has a latch member 31 pivotally secured thereto and urged upwardly by a spring 38, the tension of which is adjusted by means of a screw 39 bearing upwardly thereagainst. The underside of the post 35 is cut to have a face sloping downwardly and outwardly in relation to the under side of the arm 22 and the latch member 31 is formed to have a notch removed therefrom with a post engaging face such that when the post 35 approaches the arm 22 the diagonally positioned under face of the post 35 will strike an outer sloping edge of the latch 31 tending to depress it so as to allow the post to travel thereover and have the sloping face of the notch in the latch member come up behind the post 35 tending to urge the post 35 toward the arm 22 by reason of the spring 38 carrying the latch member upwardly. This sloping face in the notch is so disposed that while it will normally retain the post 35 against the arm 22, the post 35 may be pushed back thereagainst with sufiicient pressure to carry the latch downwardly and permit the post to escape from engagement with the latch.

A shaft 40 is mounted across the head I3-in a horizontal position, here shown as on'a chordal line rather than on a diameter, and has its ends rockably carried through journal boxes to extend outside of the head on each'side. Gate arms H and 42 are fixed to the respective projecting ends of this shaft 40 in such a manner that as the shaft may be rocked, the arms may be correspondingly rocked. These arms are here shown as channel bars having wood extensions 43 fixed thereto to form the gate proper and carry counter-weights 44 at their rear ends to overbalance that portion of the gate extending forwardly of the shaft 40. The lengths of the arms back of the shaft 40 are made such that the counterbalance will strike the base I8, as indicated in dotted lines, Fig. 1, when the gate is in its extreme upper raised or opened position.

Referring again to the yoke 28, a cylinder 45, shown in more detail in Fig. 5, is mounted on a. base 46 which is rockably engaged by cap screws 41 extending through the lower ends of the arms of the yoke 28 so as to rockably carry the cylinder therebetween. This cylinder is provided with a piston 48 which is without packing but is provided with a plurality of annular grooves. A piston rod 49 is connected with the piston 48 and extends upwardly through the cylinder head 58 through a packing gland 5I and is directly connected by a yoke 52 on its upper end with the lever 53 which is secured to the shaft 48. The yoke 52 is screwthreadedly engaged on the upper end of the rod 49 so that the piston 48 may be adjusted somewhat in respect to its distance from the end of the lever 53. The head 50 is provided with a discharge opening and a discharge hose 54 is connected to the head to be in communication with this opening. The cylinder base 45 is provided with an opening 55 from a central passage 56 which extends transversely across the casting. In one end of this casting or base 46 is a valve 51 adapted to intercept the passage 53, which valve has a rod 58 connected thereto normally carried upwardly by means of the spring 59. This rod 58 extends on up in a guided relation through the head 50 and is turned over thereabove and carried around the piston rod 48 to form a ring through which the rod may freely slide. A collar 60 is adjustably carried on the piston rod 49 so as to be carried against the rod 58 so as to push the rod downwardly and overcome the spring 59 to close the valve 51 upon sufficient downward travel of the piston 48 in its cylinder.

Within the housing I I is placed a comparatively shallow pan 6| to contain a relatively small amount of oil. The housing II is provided with a floor preferably in the form of a grid with depressions therein to receive and locate the pan 6| so as to prevent it from being shifted about over the floor. Over this pan 6| is placed a tray or cover 62 which serves as a platform to carry an operating pump 63 and its driving motor 54. This pump 63 has an intake pipe 65 extending down through the cover 62 well toward the bottom of the pan 6| and is further preferably provided with an automatic relief having a discharge pipe 66 returning through the cover to discharge into the pan 6|. The pump 63 with its automatic relief is not shown here in detail since its structure per se does not enter into my invention and since it may be obtained commercially. The pump 63 discharges through a throttling valve 61 which has a by-pass pipe 68 leading back through the cover 62 to discharge into the pan 6|. After the by-pass valve 61, is provided a check valve 58 mounted in such manner that flow through it may be had from the valve 61 but reverse flow from the check valve toward the by-pass valve is prevented. The line from the pump continues with a side outlet opening being provided into which is fitted a hose line 10 and after the side outlet is a solenoid operated valve TI normally open, then a cut-off valve 12 also normally open and finally a fitting 13 normally carrying the flow from the pump back down through the cover 162 to discharge into the pan: 6t.

2; Ihe2- overflow I hose 54. is here shown, as beingiconnectedito the fitting I3 to allow the: hoseto discharge through arms of the yoke; 2B and the valve]? whereby horizontal rotation ofwthe head l3wil-l operate the; valve 12 such that with-the gate in its ;nor

mal position-, the valvewremains open, while; in

a the horizontally rotatedposition the valve will be closed. This connection is; here shown. as comprising a two part, telescoping-square sectioned tube ll .the1upper end otywhichtis pinned loosely to an extension of the a-rmfrom the yoke 28- while the lower endis pinned to the valve plug, rocking connections being'provided;between-the t d't us and between he tube and e yoke arnrbut so formed. as to .have the tube. revolve with the arm. By reason of thisitelescoping connection, itis'not essentialthat theqvalve 1,2"be located on the axis of rotation ofthethead Indescribing the method of operating the gate, reference is made to-gthe diagramasshownin' Fig. 9,, wherein it is assumed that the gate is to be employed to protect a crossing of a highway or the like with a railroad which has a track 80, the rails. of which are in circuit with a block battery 81-.v This battery is-ina permanentcircuit with the winding 82 of a relaycswitchts, which switch is preferably mounted within a box 84 carried by standardsonthecovert; of the pan- Btwithin the housing H This relay switch 83- is normally open and is employed to! close-the circuit of a. power. line when the axle or wheels of a car or train operating uponthe track.

completes the circuit through the. b attery tl". When the relay switch. coil 82. is thusenergized the switch 83, here indicated as a double-pole switch is closedand a circuit :is. proyided therefrom to include the motor 64, the winding .of the solenoid valve ll, awarningbell '86,,herfe shown as being mounted on the head l4','Fig.'1, an'd a plurality of warning, lights here shown, Fig. 10, as being arranged behind glasses or lenses to display the word Stop. The winding of the solenoid valve H thus being energized, the valve is closed and the pump 63 then being operated by the motor 64 forces oil up through the hose 10 to within the cylinder 45, the valve. 51 being closed so that the oil may flow through the opening 55 from that end of the passageway 56 to which is connected the check valve 16. It is to be understood of course thatthe gate is normally returned to its upper or open position by means of the counter-weight 44 so that the piston 48 is initially at the lower end of the cylinder 45. As the pump continues to discharge oil, the piston 48 wilI be raised in the cylinder 45 so as toforce the rod 49 upwardly and thereby rock the shaft 40 around to lower the gate. The piston 48 continues traveling upwardly under the pressure exerted by the incoming oil until a switch is oper, ated tostop the motor.

lfhe switch is preferably ;in the forms-of a: mer- ,cury: tube switch which may berocked to close and open .the motor circuit without. having any emaosedarc; or; spark. Referring to Figs. 3',v 4

and-7e theymercurytubefll is here shown as be- 5 ing -carried within a housing 88,-which is rockably illOllIltGdrOIl the side .of a bracket 89; The housin alifl is pivoted about a pinto which isso located in respect to the housing that the housing will'normally tend to drop downwardly by its outer endso asto rock ;the tube 81 therewithin to: a; clos ed=- position. .This downward rocking of the housing is limited by therear end of the housing striking a. lip9l turned outwardly from the bracket. A secondpin 921s carried by the housing to be above and to the rear of the pivot pin and; an arm 93 is carried by the shafitwtobe-swungaround against the pin 92 so as to have rocked the housing 88 around: to tiltthetube 8 ,toithe open position-by the time ihel shaft .40; has: carried the gate down to its. horizontallyidisposedposition. The upward rocking of the housing 88 is limited by the upper corner of it striking the; lip 9i as indicated in Eig. {The bracket. 8&1 is here shown as being mounted over the edge of an. oil well through ;which the shaft 4|1 extends,to have the housing ,being turned about the pin away from the housing pin 92but having the opposite corner left intact to forma foot which willstrike the clamp 94 so as to prevent rotation of the arm 93 in the. opposite direction. A springsfi between the arm 93 and the clamp 94v is employedto rock thearm 93 around to. its limit of travel, as de-v 1 termined by the contact. of this corner with the clamp. This-mounting of the arm 9;3- is employedgas a means for preventing breakage or damage. of any sort and to permit approximate rather thanexact, adjustments of the bracket89 and-the c1amp;94 in respectjto each other so that after the housing 88- hasbeen rocked to its upper positionthe shaft, 40 may continue revolving slightly since the arm 93 may berocked backwardly to overcome the pull of the, spring 95 in the event of this over travel.

. Thus thegate, is in ithe lowered position; a pressure is in the cylinder 45 under the piston 48 tending to hold the gate in that positionfthe motor has been disconnected from the energizing circuit; the solenoid valve H remains closed by reason of its coil still remaining in that cirings.v Now should suflicient oil leak past the piston 48 to above the piston, the leakage, if sufficient, may overflow and return back through the hose 54 to the pan 6|. Also if this leakage a it to its upper position.

The upward travel of the piston rod 49 is limited by means of an adjustable screw 91 which extends down through the head cap 14 to be struck by the lever 53, Fig; 1. In order to prevent too great an impact against this screw, I employ the customary rods 98 hingedly connected to the outer ends of the gates which drop down and strike the roadway or ground to arrest further downward travel of the gates, Fig. 10. The length of the rod 98 and the adjustment of the screw 91 are correlated so that both operate to limit the downward swing of the gates.

The gate thus remains in the horizontal position guarding the crossing until the track or block circuit is opened, whereupon the relay switch 83 is opened; the bell 84 and lamps 85 deenergized; the motor 64 stopped; and the coil in the solenoid valve ll deenergized to permit the valve to open and thus allow oil to drain back from the cylinder 45 to the then open valve 51 and down through the hose 10, through the open solenoid valve, the open valve I2, and the fitting 13 into the pan 6|. This draining of the cylinder 45 is further accentuated by reason of the weights 44 tending to lift the gate and force the piston 48 down through the cylinder to expel the oil. This action normally takes place when the gate is allowed to remain in its position to swing across the highway being guarded but should the gate have been struck or rocked around while in the horizontal position, even though the relay switch 83 has been opened, the oil cannot escape from the cylinder 45 since the valve 12 has been closed by the horizontal rotation of the gate and the return flow of the oil is cut off thereby. However as soon as the pressure against the gate having caused the horizontal rotation is removed, the springs 33 will pull the head I3 around to bring the gate back to its normal position which position then has caused the valve 12 to be opened so as to allow the drainage of the oil and permit the weights 44 to carry the gate to its open position.

Just before the weights 44 strike the base I, the collar 60 having been properly adjusted along the rod 49 will strike the overturned end of the rod-58 so as to close the valve 51 and shut-off further drainage of the oil from the cylinder 45 and thereby provide a cushion of oil underthe piston 48 to check the speed of the falling weights 44 so as to allow them to come into contact with the base In with a much lessened impact.

The cable 3| may be hooked-up with the head I3 so as to selectively form right and left hand gates. The hook-up is here shown as for a left side of the 'pulley 24.

hand gate and to change it over to a right hand gate, the'stop post is" mounted on the other side of the arm 21 so as to be in the path of the arm 22 on that side and the latch bracket 36 is correspondingly shifted to the other edge of the arm 22, and the pulley 30 shifted to the other The cable 3| is then brought up around the opposite side of the pulley 24, carried around the shifted pulley 30 and then attached to the arm 21. v w

The pump 63 has a much greater capacity than required to fill the cylinder withinthe time desired, and the throttle valve 61 is employed to control the rate of delivery of the'oil to the cylinder. By adjusting the valve to alter the bleed therefrom through the line 68, the required rate may be obtained. The pump, being provided with a built in relief valve discharging through the return 66, can not deliver pressure exceeding a predetermined amount, and hence if for any reason the motor remains energized no damage may be done to the system.

While I have here shown my invention'in the one specific form as now best known to me, it is obvious that structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and I therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations as may be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

'1. In a crossing gate, a standard, a gate supported by the standard to have an arm rockable both vertically and horizontally, latch means for holding the arm in a normal rigid position as to horizontal movement against normal pressures but releasing the arm upon an impact on the gate.

2. In a crossing gate, a gate arm, arm supporting members comprising a standard and a head revolubly mounted on the standard, and a latch mechanism interposed between the said members normally holding the members rigidly one in respect to the other, said mechanism being formed to completely release the holding effect of the mechanism of one member in respect to-the other following a slight initial relative travel thereof.

- 3. In a crossing gate, a gate arm swingable both vertically and horizontally, means for swinging the gate arm vertically, cut-oiI means for rendering said swinging means inoperative, and means connecting with and operating the cut-off means upon horizontal swinging of the gate arm.

JOSEPH H. STALEY. 

